Related Expertise
- Account collection
- Addition or departure of shareholders
- Bankruptcy and Restructuring
- Buy-Sell Agreement
- Change in the legal form of a company
- Commercial litigation (shareholders, employees or others)
- Company Book
- Consignment Contract
- Contract of partnership
- Convertible debenture
- Corporate reorganization and restructuring
- Corporate resolutions
- Creation of a subsidiary
- Director’s liability
- Drafting of articles of constitution
- Franchising
- Governance and Internal Management
- Implementation of a Tax Memo
- Intellectual Property
- Joint Venture Agreement
- Legal Publicity of Enterprises
- Management Company
- Planning and Tax Litigation
- Preparation and review of commercial leases
- Securities and access to public markets
- Share subscription agreement
- Shareholders Agreement
- Starting a business
- Strategic Partnership
- Taxation and tax litigation
- Term Sheet
- The Letter of Intent of the Offer to Purchase
- Trusts (estate and asset protection)
- Unfair competition, Duty of loyalty
A shareholders’ agreement serves, among other things, to protect its signatories in the event of unfortunate and unforeseen events, such as the withdrawal from the business or the death of one of the shareholders. It is in this sense that it may be wise to include an insurance clause, which represents a form of protection for the shareholders in the event of the death of one of their partners. Indeed, the shares held by a person are part of his patrimony and are therefore likely to be transmitted to his estate upon his death, unless the shareholders’ agreement provides for the shares to be disposed of in another way, for example by means of a mandatory offer clause. In order to protect yourself against unintended consequences, it is therefore advisable to call upon a competent team such as that of Bernier Fournier to guide you in the drafting of your shareholders’ agreement.
The insurance clause can be particularly useful when a mandatory death benefit clause is accompanied by an obligation on the part of the shareholders to purchase the shares offered to them. By taking out a life insurance policy on the life of each of the signatories of the shareholders’ agreement, the shareholders or the company, as beneficiaries of the insurance policy, ensure that they have the necessary liquidity to purchase or redeem the shares upon the death of one of the shareholders.
Our team will be able to work with you to develop a tax plan for the insurance clause while helping you choose the right owners and beneficiaries for each of the life insurance policies so that the clause is in the financial interest of both the shareholders and the company itself.